1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computerized systems and methods for facilitating commerce and, more particularly, to Internet-based systems and methods for implementing transactions between a multiplicity of buyers and vendors.
2. Description of the Related Technology
The Internet has greatly facilitated the ease with which parties are able to implement commercial transactions. Instead of meeting face-to-face, corporate buyers can visit the web sites of various vendors to compare prices, delivery dates, availability, product specifications, and other terms. For example, consider the operational environment of a typical grocery store chain. The chain employs a staff of buyers, each of whom is responsible for maintaining stock in one or more departments of the store. Produce buyers ensure that sufficient stock of lettuce, tomatoes, bananas, and apples are on hand to meet anticipated demand. It is the job of dairy buyers to replenish stocks of milk, eggs, cheese, and yogurt. Each store in a chain may employ its own team of dairy, produce, meat, and other buyers, or, alternatively, some of these buyers may be responsible for restocking several stores in the chain. Pursuant to state-of-the-art computing technology, buyers may use Internet-enabled computing devices to log onto the websites of vendors offering products approved by the grocery store chain. Each vendor has a separate website with its own attendant graphical interfaces, navigational schemes, logon procedures, and presentation of information. Buyers must familiarize themselves with an often bewildering array of layouts, web page sequences, and ordering procedures. It is often difficult or time-consuming to locate needed information. These factors render the Internet unnecessarily cumbersome for implementing buyer-vendor transactions.
Due to the proliferation of individual vendor web sites, buyers are called upon to memorize and track vast amounts of information. The requirements governing logon IDs and passwords may differ from site to site. Buyers need to memorize each of these IDs and passwords, and then endure a tedious log-on procedure every time a new vendor web site is accessed. If a given vendor does not have a sufficient quantity of product on hand, the buyer can purchase from two or more different vendors, but the task of keeping track of these different orders falls to the buyer. As an additional consideration, a grocery store chain may approve some, but not all, products offered by a particular vendor. Vendor websites are not always equipped to provide such information to a buyer, with the result that a buyer could place an order for an unapproved product.
Illustrative period-art vendor websites have been developed by the Kirkey Products Group of Longwood, Fla. These systems are designed for use by one specific vendor such as a grower, packer, shipper, sales organization, and/or broker. Such systems provide sales management, packinghouse management, gift fruit shipping, caretaking/farm management, general ledger, accounts payable, and payroll functions for that vendor, based upon the specific requirements of that vendor's business operation. Kirkey's system are geared to handle a specific vendor's own unique way of doing business, as stated on the Products/Services web page, and are not intended to provide uniformity from vendor to vendor. Accordingly, they tend to exacerbate the problems as described above, whereby buyers must learn to deal with a multiplicity of unique vendor websites, each with its own peculiar operational characteristics, ordering sequences, and logon procedures.
Another illustrative prior art system presents users with access to one of a plurality of industry-specific web pages based upon selection of a predetermined business category from an online menu. One of these industry-specific web pages pertains to produce, and another to dairy products. These web pages do not bring together individual vendors and buyers, but rather function as an industry-specific online trade journal or newsletter. For example, the produce page contains produce-related news that is updated every 30 minutes. Several online calculation tools are provided to implement calculations related to the produce industry, and several online business forms are provided to assist in typical commercial transactions related to the purchase and sale of product. A list of upcoming trade shows and events is provided, and various produce-related stock prices are tracked. However, this system does not implement commercial transactions between buyers and vendors. Yet another prior art Internet-based commerce system is a verticalnet system The verticalnet system reduces the procurement cost of a specific buyer organization by allowing individual buyers to make buying decisions governed by the organization's procurement rules. The system operates in the context of a specific buyer organization, and places limitations on the manner in which buyers can interact with already-existing vendor websites. The foregoing problems with respect to lack of uniformity among vendor websites are not addressed—the buyer must still deal with a multiplicity of widely divergent vendor websites. In essence, the verticalnet system functions as a “guard” or gatekeeper, preventing the buyer from performing a function that is not permitted under the organization's procurement rules. The remainder of the vendor-buyer interaction proceeds as usual, pursuant to conventional Internet-based systems.
Still another prior-art system for facilitating Internet commerce is a ChemConnect system ChemConnect is-an online marketplace which provides commercial buyers with access to thousands of products. Some of these products are auctioned off in a virtual “corporate trading room”. A virtual “commodities floor” provides a secure trading area for the buying and selling of standard, high-volume commodity chemicals and plastics. Another feature, termed “Envera”, automates the actual order fulfillment, logistics, monitoring and tracking process. However, Envera is not integrated with ChemConnect's online marketplace features.
The ChemConnect system does not deal with issues that are inherent in many vendor-buyer transactions. For example, the ChemConnect system treats all registered buyers identically—any buyer can purchase any item, irrespective of whether the buyer's organization has authorized the buyer to purchase that type of item, and irrespective of whether a particular vendor's item is approved by that buyer's organization. Moreover, since ChemConnect presents all items to all buyers, a buyer may have to wade through extensive lists of items and categories that are not of interest in order to locate a needed item. Finally, the ChemConnect system does not provide a fully-integrated approach. The site does not list substantially all products of a given category that are offered by a particular vendor, nor does it provide a mechanism by which a buyer can shop exclusively with a first vendor, and then move on to shop exclusively with a second vendor. What is needed is an Internet-based system that is sufficiently flexible to meet the needs of various vendor-buyer relationships.